Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Goode
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 7/20/2022
‘Barefoot Trapper’ Takes Stage at Farm Tech Days
“Barefoot trapper” Skye Goode speaks in front of a crowd in the youth area at Farm Technology Days July 14.
Jesse Heslip/Clark County Press
By Jesse Heslip
Preserving a history rife with stories of building a country, by continuing a tradition one pelt at a time—that is what one local woman is doing as she tells her story and how it intertwines with that of the history of trapping and the fur trade.
Skye Goode of rural Neillsville visited Farm Technology days near Loyal three days last week to share about her passion for trapping and the outdoors in general.
A true farm girl at heart, Goode has been called “The Barefoot Trapper” because she often heads into the woods with neither sock nor shoe. From October until February, you can find Goode in the woods checking traps before the sun comes up. It wasn’t always like that though. As a child, Goode was taken along with family members to check traps for muskrats and mink, but it wasn’t until recently that trapping became a passion of her own.
As is often the case, it was all a happy accident. Goode was bow hunting and dropped a buck just before sundown one fall evening.
“It got too dark to find him, so I let him sit overnight. I tracked him in the morning and found him half-eaten by coyotes. That was my light bulb moment,” Goode stated on stage at the Farm Tech Days youth area.
Today Good is a nuisance trapper and although the fur trade isn’t booming like in the days of John Jacob Aster, she does take calls from people who want animals off their property for on reason or another. Goode is able to negotiate deals for property usage during trapping season when pelts are in their best condition or charge to remove the animal.
Good runs a fur hat business on Facebook that is quite popular. You can find more information about her business at Facebook.com/bearfootFurs.
Goode’s favorite traps are referred to as snare traps, but much like trapping itself, the name is a bit of a misconception. A snare trap doesn’t lock and kill the animal.
“After an animal is in the trap, it’s just like a dog collar. When the animal relaxes, the trap relaxes,” Goode stated.
“People always think trapping results in the animal suffering and that’s just not the case. Traps have come a long way since the days of the settlers using traps with the big teeth. More often than not, it results in the animal being held like its in handcuffs,” Goode added.
Goode urged anyone interested in trapping and learning more about the industry as a whole to visit their local trapping association. To find out more about what Goode does visit one of her social media pages or check out her YouTube videos, which include videos of her releasing animals caught in her trap lines by mistake.
